Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Day of the Brookie 2013 / What I'm Thankful For

Turkey Day is tomorrow.  It's a time when you remember what you are thankful for.  I am thankful for a lot of things including family and good health.  But I am also thankful for a small group of fishing friends that have gotten together each summer for the last four years to spend a weekend together in the Colorado mountains.  The weekend is basically a competition, but the winner is really the person that has the most fun, not who catches the most fish. 
 
 
Each year, I put together a video to relive the weekend and I have a lot of fun doing so.  I hope you can appreciate the good times with good friends.  Enjoy your turkey and pumpkin pie tomorrow and everything you are thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Gotta Have Faith


The last few weeks have been good to me.  After a few bad calls by the umps and great pitching performances by the Cardinals, the Red Sox prevailed and won their third championship in under ten years. I had faith.  As mentioned, I thought the fishing season was just about over after my last cold, raining day outing, but it continues.  I didn't have faith, but was glad to be proven wrong.


 
The weather has been a lot nicer than expected over the past few weeks and I have even had some really nice late season dry fly action on one of my favorite, small front range creeks due to the sun and higher temperatures.  Nymphing has done well earlier in the days, with a bead head hare's ear reliably producing numerous small brown trout.  




Other than the nice weather over the last few weekends, the only other surprise has been the couple of rainbows I have caught.  The State does stock rainbows in this creek, but it is my understanding that they do not naturally reproduce.  The brown trout are a sustaining population and typically significantly out-populate the rainbows.  Cutbows have also been stocked in this creek, but I have only seen them caught by other anglers.


A simple adams dry fly produced several fish which was a nice change from nymphing.  I love watching a dry fly float along the surface waiting for the boil of a strike and setting the hook to feel the weight and pull of a fish that has just taken the fly.

 
I found my fall afternoons on the river in the sunshine to be totally relaxing and made a point to take a few moments to enjoy my surroundings.  I know that the inevitable cold snap is right around the corner which will all but end our season.  But until that time, we all have to have some faith.  Throw your gear in your car, drive to your favorite water and give it another go.  Yes, one day will be the day you get skunked and hang up your gear for a few months.   Until then.....get after it while you can. 


Enjoy it and I'll see you soon.